Proposed Guidelines for Extended Curriculum Programmes(ECP) at CPUT
Ensuring the quality of ECP implementation
ECP Unit, Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development Dr Lynn Coleman A/Prof James Garraway
Document History
This document was originally passed by Senate in October 2008 then resubmitted with changes to the Senate Teaching and Learning Sub-Committee on October 25 2010. Further consultation with ECP coordinators at CPUT resulted in additional changes (January 2015). These changes attempted to reflect the changing realities experienced within the ECP teaching and learning, curriculum, departmental, faculty and institutional contexts (especially with respect to evaluation and monitoring). The current version of this document (January 2018) has again been subjected to extensive consultation with ECP stakeholders in preparation for submission to the Senate Teaching and Learning Sub-Committee.
1. Executive Summary
● The aim of extended curriculum programmes is to increase the throughput rate of students whose schooling background might not have prepared them appropriately for higher education/university study
● An extended programme is defined as a full diploma programme into which substantial additional provision is incorporated with the express purpose of facilitating learning and improving the completion rate among students
● Entry to an ECP qualification is for students who, due to their schooling background are identified as being at risk in mainstream provision but who meet the minimum entry requirements for study at CPUT, and who show motivation and/or potential to learn at the university
● Extended curriculum programmes involve providing students with extensive pedagogic, curricula and psycho-social support towards understanding university subject knowledge and the field of practice in which these subjects are embedded. ECP also supports students’ general transition to university learning and therefore seeks to enable them to better cope with the mainstream teaching, learning and assessment context
● Extended curriculum provision at CPUT may adhere to one of the following Department of Higher Education ECP/Foundational model provisions, namely; 1) foundation, 2) extended or 3) augmented
● All subjects taught as part of an ECP offers must be credit bearing
● ECP provisions and all ECP students are ultimately the responsibility of the programme leader of the mainstream programme where they are registered
● ECP lecturers are expected to attend staff development workshops, teaching and learning symposia and seminars and engage in regular curriculum review and revision activities in ways that maximise their capacity to offer enriched curricula and pedagogic experiences to their students
2. Purpose and Rationale for Extended Curriculum Programmes
ECP provisions are regarded as a key strategy for improving higher education performance and transformation through facilitating equity of outcomes and playing an important role in creating equity of access in some institutions. The purpose of the extended curriculum programme is to improve the academic performance of university students who are deemed to be at risk of academic failure due to their educational backgrounds. In general ECP provisions feed into broader goals of social transformation, access and equity by seeking to improve access and success rates of students who might otherwise be excluded from university study because of their schooling experiences. In this way ECP provisions seek to contribute to increasing the pool of black (used inclusively) graduates.
Many students entering higher education in South Africa experience problems resulting in excessively high failure, repeater and dropout rates with black students performing significantly worse than white students (Scott, 2007). Factors impacting on the performance of black students in university are numerous. However, there is increasing recognition that many university curricula fail to adequately accommodate the learning needs and resources of their students. This in turn results in the many barriers which prevent students from being successful in their university studies. The results of poor schooling and/or inappropriate curricula are that a high percentage of students across the country fail to complete their studies and qualify. Low or delayed completion rates impact greatly on the higher education sectors’ efficiency levels and have negative psychological and economic impact on individual students and their families. Low graduation rates furthermore contribute to current skills shortages.
In order to deal with these complex problems the Department of Higher Education (DHET) has set aside special funding for extended diploma and degree programmes at all universities in South Africa.
ECP and foundational provision must satisfy the following conditions and in so doing align it to the general ethos and principles as outlined in the DHET (2012) Foundation provision in Ministerially approved programmes guidelines:
● Offer systematic, curriculum-based approaches, rather than ad-hoc support programmes with the specific aim to support student success. Thus ECPs provide a set of curricula, pedagogic and learning activities designed to enable students whose schooling backgrounds provided incomplete preparation for university or specific subject/qualification learning, to perform successfully
● Form part of one of CPUT’s formal undergraduate diploma programmes but provide substantial foundational provision, i.e. additional to coursework and notional hours prescribed for the regular curriculum
● All subjects offered to students must be credit-bearing and contribute towards the award of a formal qualification
● ECP or foundational provisions must be formally planned, scheduled and timetabled and regulated as an integral part of CPUT’s formal teaching and learning activities
3. Funding for ECP
The Foundation Grant is special earmarked funding based on FTEs, which CPUT receives to fund its ECP provisions. The additional provision in an extended programmes carries cost to the university but does not qualify for regular subsidy. The primary purpose of the earmarked Foundation Grant is to cover the cost of this additional provision. There are thus two sources of state funding for extended programmes; 1) the Foundation Grant for the additional provisions, and 2) the teaching input subsidy for the regular provision within the programme.
CPUT receives a baseline subsidy per FTE roughly calculated as follows: (Foundation subsidy) x CESM weighting x number of ECP students. Monies are meant for staffing, minor supplies or equipment and site visits or excursions. Funds cannot be used for bursaries or capital expenditure (over R15 000). DHET has a list of approved expenditure outlined in the 2012 policy guidelines (see DHET, 2012:24). The funding subsidy recognises that CPUT covers the administration cost associated with running ECP’s in departments as ECP students are included in the DHET capped enrolment figure for the institution. A further 1% of the subsidy received for ECP students at CPUT is directed to the ECP Unit at Fundani for ECP specific staff development initiatives. Funding for all CPUT’s ECP provisions in various academic departments are distributed centrally to different faculties/departments by the Finance department according to weighted FTEs per programme.
4. Auditing and Reporting
ECP and foundational provisions are formally funded through ring-fenced funding received annually from the DHET. The Foundation Grant ensures that ECP provisions are a permanent element of the national and institutional efforts to ensure increased equity of access and success, particularly for students who might otherwise ‘struggle academically’. All ECP offerings are therefore subject to an annual audit. Results of these audits which are submitted to the DHET can impact on future funding allocations for such programmes.
The audit process is managed centrally through the office of the DVC: Academic and the ECP Unit, Fundani.
The ECP Unit, Fundani assists the HEMIS office and Finance Departments with compiling the annual institutional report for submission to the DHET.
Faculties and departments with ECP provisions, however, contribute to the audit through the provision of carefully compiled, up-to-date and quality-checked financial and descriptive record keeping. This vital information is central to the compilation of the
larger institutional audit report. Faculties and departments are therefore required to submit detailed, financial and descriptive reports (detailing amongst others; staff and student numbers, student success and throughput, student evaluations, challenges and concerns, staff development initiatives) twice-yearly both to their respective Teaching and Learning Committees and the ECP Unit, Fundani.
5. Staffing
a. Workshare Model
Academic staff who teach on an ECP qualification would be subject to the current CPUT workshare model. However, given that ECP provisions include substantial additional coursework/classroom time, the workshare model will incorporate all the timetabled classroom, tutorial and consultation times allocated to the specific ECP subject taught. An ECP lecturer’s workshare model is therefore derived not from FTE, but driven by the 1200 notional hours (120 credits) that an ECP student is meant to spend in each year of their course. (This issue is complicated by CHE rules that the full SAQA credits for a diploma must not exceed 360 whereas ECP students always receive an additional 1200 hours of teaching and learning). These notional hours should reflect all teaching and learning hours including, classroom time, tutorials, practicals, self-study and assignment construction time. Where ECP lecturers’ engage in teamteaching practices, each lecturer’s full time-tabled contact time with their students should be reflected in their workshare allocations. The workshare model should also appropriately accommodate ECP lecturers’ post-graduate supervision responsibility and continuous professional development activities (including attending workshops, seminars and undertaking research specifically linked to their curriculum and pedagogic contexts).
b. Staff Selection and Recruitment
Given the nature of the students who typically make up an ECP cohort and the type of teaching and learning engagement encouraged by ECP provisions, academic staff selected and recruited to ECP programmes should ideally demonstrate a special interest in or have previous educational experience linked to teaching and learning in higher education. While subject or disciplinary expertise is regarded as a prerequisite, ECP lecturers should also be expert teachers, who show enthusiasm and ongoing interest in their continuous professional development as lecturers, are keen to research their own practice and show dispositional characteristics of being a reflective teacher.
c. Continuous Teaching and Professional Development
Lecturers should commit to the continual improvement of their teaching and professional development. Provisions should be made for their participation and engagement in various academic staff development initiatives (supported by the workshare model allocation, see section (a) above). Lecturers should also be actively involved in researching their own pedagogic and curriculum practices. Participation in various institution-wide, regional, national and international
fora devoted to educational research should be strongly encouraged and the necessary financial and other support provided (for example through the academic staff development provisions made via the ECP Unit in Fundani). Permanently appointed ECP lecturers’ conditions of service are the same as other academic staff. As a result the same career pathway enabling features should be available to ECP academic staff, allowing them similar academic career progression and access to promotional opportunities
6. Student Selection and Placement onto the Extended Curriculum Programmes
The selection of students onto ECP qualification should fall strictly under the ambit of the Head of Department (HoD) or Head of Programme (HoP). The intended purpose of ECP is to ensure that students who are deemed to be at risk of failure if they are placed in the regular programme are supported through an enriched curriculum and pedagogic support. The extended curriculum provision is therefore seen as a means of ensuring that students selected into such programmes have the potential to benefit from additional support; for example, students who demonstrate interest and motivation to study in their chosen discipline and professional field. There is little point in selecting students for an expensive and externally funded support programme who are unlikely to benefit from it. The total numbers of a ECP cohort for a respective year, should be determined by the HoD and be aligned to the total DHET approved enrolments for the given diploma qualification. It is recognised that different departments have undertaken careful needs analyses over time of their student intakes to firstly, determine the need for ECP and foundational provisions, and secondly, to establish the specific curricular or pedagogic requirements of their yearly intake. This therefore allows HoDs to either increase or reduce their ECP cohort numbers on a yearly basis. Such practices encourage a responsive approach to student selection and placement. When adjusting enrolments according to need, the HoD should veer towards the high-end to ensure overall near full enrolment of ECP students and thereby secure full DHET funding.
a. Transparent and Consistent Selection Criteria
As with all regular/mainstream diploma qualifications, the entrance criteria for selection and admission to ECP provisions should be communicated to prospective students in a transparent and consistent manner. CPUT currently uses APS as the means for determining the admission criteria for all its diploma/degree programmes. DHET provisions stipulate that prospective students can be admitted to an extended curriculum programme if they have met the minimum National Senior Certificate (NSC) requirements for entry into a diploma or degree qualification. Extended programmes aim to provide an alternative route to qualifications for students with the potential to succeed even if they do not meet the minimum institutionally set entry criteria for specific programmes. For example, a student could be placed on an ECP track if their APS scores as slightly below those required for normal mainstream admittance. For example, if the APS score for the regular course is 30, the ECP admission might be between27-29 or concessions might be
made on particular NSC subject requirements, thus where the regular diploma requires 5 in Physics, a candidate with 4 may be accepted onto the ECP offering.
b. Guiding Criteria for Placement that should be adhered to:
Students who have the diploma programme/course as their first choice of study (where this is not the case there would need to be evidence of motivation to study in the secondary field chosen)
Students who have a strong interest or experience in the field of study but due to background, educational or social reasons are under-prepared to study in this field
Students who fall into the lower cohort of the acceptable NSC or APS admission scores
Students who have undertaken National Benchmark Testing (NBT) or other means to assess their readiness to study, for example the use of portfolios of evidence and/or interviews. HODS should note that ad hoc forms of testing that have not been extensively researched and evaluated, and so are likely not to have met the criteria of validity, reliability and fairness, are strongly discouraged.
7. Academic Progression, Promotion and Exclusion
a. Institutional Rules for Exclusion
As a bona fide CPUT student, all rules and governance regulating academic progression and exclusion should apply to ECP students. There are however, additional prescriptions related to DHET funding for ECP that should to be recognised. These CPUT rules and any additional prescriptions that might apply to ECP cohorts, need to be carefully communicated to students in the interest of transparency and accountability.
● While the DHET does recognize repeating students on ECPs for statistical and/or funding purposes, students should not be allowed to repeat their full or significant portion of the ECP curriculum or all subjects for a given year. For example, if a student has taken three subjects as part of their first year on their ‘Extended’ model programme and fails all three subjects, they should not be allowed to repeat the year/subjects. Instead they should be counselled to pursue their educational interests possibly at a TVET college. Where possible only a limited amount of subjects should be repeated (specific departmental conditions related to resourcing, class numbers and timetable restrictions will also have to be taken into account). However, where repeating ECP students are accommodated, the course/department would have to ensure that repeating students are not denied support while completing their ‘repeat’ subjects, for example, repeating ECP student cannot be accommodated in part-time provisions for subjects.
● The DHET has an aspirational throughput of 80% for ECP which departments should strive towards. Reaching this target in the future has implications for placement and the quality of teaching and learning.
b. Promotion to Mainstream (Flexible Curriculum)
Students may move between ECP and mainstream where this is recommended by lecturers but this should only be done under exceptional circumstances. Re-registration must be done at the latest mid-term 2 in order to match to DHET reporting requirements.
8. ECP Course Structures
a. Educational Principles of ECP
The following are presented as theoretical or empirically informed principles and guidelines that should underpin the educational intentions of extended programmes;
Recognizing the articulation gap between secondary and higher education and therefore place specific attention on content and conceptual development, academic skills and literacies and language and approaches to learning
Orientate and socialize students into disciplinary and professional knowledge and practices
Incorporate inclusive and asset-based teaching and learning approaches that recognise the linguistic, socio-cultural and knowledge resources and repertoires that students bring along to the university learning space
Incorporate a range of teaching and learning strategies and methods that seek to foster and enhance students’ active participation in their learning
Effectively utilize the provision of additional teaching and learning time to incorporate and successfully implement appropriate, innovative and inclusive pedagogic strategies and methods (see Guideline Pedagogic Practices in section c below)
Mutual respect, accountability and transparency are overarching values which characterise how curriculum, pedagogic and assessment goals and expectations are communicated and also shape how classroom relationships are developed and facilitated.
b. Guideline Curriculum Practices
All foundation and extended subject must be appropriately curriculated to reflect their foundational/extended status. Regular or mainstream subjects are not simply ‘stretched’ over a longer period. Suitable curriculum provisions should be incorporated into foundation/extended subjects – separate curriculum maps, subject guides and assessment schedules should be prepared for each foundation/extended subject offered as part of an extended diploma offering.
The credit bearing requirement precludes the use of ‘bolt-on’ or ad hoc generic skills development courses. The development of computer literacy, information literacy and academic writing competencies are seen as crucial for enabling successful university
study. However, the development of these skills and competencies should be strongly embedded in students disciplinary and/or professional field subject learning
Emphasis should be placed on the careful and thorough exploration of theoretical and applied concepts regarded as central to the primary discipline and professional field of the course
Attention should be placed on the sequencing and pacing of content to best enhance and support students’ learning of core and foundation concepts and principles, while linkages to regular subjects and building competency and capacity in foundational knowledge associated with disciplines and fields of practice should be established
Attention should be paid to the development of knowledge, application/doing and valuing associated with both core disciplines and fields of practice
The assessment approaches used within extended curriculum programmes should be closely aligned to the type of curriculum model used in the particular diploma qualification (see Section 9 and Table 2 for a more detailed description). Foundation provision (model 1) involves a full introductory year to the relevant programme. As this necessarily involves a different introductory curriculum from year one subject content, assessments should not be the same as those in regular first year subjects. In the extended and augmented models (Model 2 and the Model) formal year one subjects are enriched through additional, supportive content and more innovative and participatory teaching approaches. In the best cases the original year one curriculum may be reorganised to focus on troublesome concepts or processes.
Given these best practices for extending the curriculum, and following the principle that all content and skills need to be assessed, it is not advisable that students are given the same assessments at the same time as regular first year students. However, under certain circumstances, for example where students are covering the same topics as mainstream but with ‘double time’, and foundation provision is still being developed, it is permissible for Faculty to conduct the same assessments for both groups.
c. Guideline Pedagogic Practices
ECP lecturers should strive to incorporate the following practices as part of their pedagogic regime. However, lecturers should be supported to constantly seek ways of improving their classroom practices. The following are offered as specific pedagogic practices that should characterize an ECP classroom environment
Innovative and creative use of classroom time
Use a range of pedagogic practices to provide an enriched learning environment
Inclusion of fieldtrips and excursions as valuable learning opportunities and an important means of introducing students to the working of professional practices and real-world examples of the application of theories explored in classroom
Peer and collaborative learning and assessment approaches and dialogical feedback strategies
A focus on the holistic development of the student should thus recognize intellectual and affective development milestones
Importance should be placed on providing students with support as they make the multiple transitions associated with the move from schooling to the university context
Integration of multiple technologies (including digital and e-learning platforms) as a mean of enhancing the pedagogic environment
d. Examples of Supporting Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices
Identifying and focusing on threshold concepts in the field (Meyer and Land, 2005).
Creating opportunities for students to learn, apply and develop these core concepts is also known as ‘epistemological access’ (Morrow, 2007: 18). Learning activities and assessment should promote an environment of cognitive challenge, rather than the memorization of tasks.
Exposure to the particular ways of doing and thinking related to actual practices at work, for example recognizing and dealing with problems associated with their field of practice and developing a recognition of how different application contexts results in different approaches/application of knowledge
Give students opportunities to identify and work with and through project-based, scenario-based and case study examples
Create opportunities for the use of peer-marking, peer and collaborative learning activities, for example, setting short, contained tasks that students peer-mark against the lecturer template and give feedback to one another, so internalizing what counts as significant in the field.
Encouraging the use of feedback as a powerful and significant learning opportunity. Feedback should be timely, detailed and dialogical in nature, allowing students to understand where and why they are not grasping concepts.
e. Credit Bearing
All ECP courses are extensions of regular SAPSE accredited courses with additional content and activities, and increased time on task and student engagement with the subject matter, i.e. more time with more tuition but not just more time. Therefore separate skills courses or extra tutorial programmes do not count as ECP. All ECP subjects should be credit bearing and contribute towards the total credits required for the students’ qualification. Because ECP always involves an additional year of credit bearing courses and each qualification is only permitted a fixed number of SAPSE credits, the regular credit is now divided over four years for the ECP students. This means that ECP students receive less credit each year as compared to mainstream regular students. There are thus implications for transfer between ECP and mainstream as students may not accumulate sufficient credit to graduate.
Table 1: Sample Credit Allocation for Different ECP Models
Foundation
Extended
Augmented
f. Evaluation and Monitoring of Student Success
In line with the procedures for earmarked or ring-fenced funding ECP qualifications will be subject to institutional visits of staff and departments with the purpose of establishing the extent of academic/teaching development and the quality and efficiency of such programmes.
HoDs and ECP coordinators are therefore required to ensure the creation and maintenance of necessary records that account for all academic, curricula, pedagogic, assessment and administrative functions and activities associated with all ECP qualifications.
Additionally, HoDs and ECP coordinators are therefore required to regularly evaluate student experiences of their ECP offering and ensure quality monitoring of the curriculum and pedagogic practices associated with ECP
Appropriate and adequate record keeping and statistical tracking of student performance on ECP and graduation/throughput rates should also be given priority.
9. DHET Models
There are four DHET approved models for the extension of the regular programmes with additional content and time on task, namely 1) fully foundational; 2) extended; 3) augmented and 4) augmenting (see Table 2: 2012 DHET ECP Model Descriptions on page 13 ). At CPUT it is strongly advised that only the fully foundational, extended and augmented models are implemented. Following the DHET guidelines, augmenting models are more suited to courses in Humanities and Social Sciences. It should be noted that not all subjects offered in one or other model have to be extended. Some subjects, at the discretion of the lecturers, will not require additional support.
a. How changes to models must be dealt with
Should a department wish to change their ECP model, for example from Foundation (Model 1) to an Extended (Model 2), the ECP Unit at Fundani should be consulted
All model changes require external DHET approval, as do changes to the overall credit value of the foundation provision.
Departments must firstly, seek approval for the model change through institutional channels and obtain approval for such a change from SENEX
Departments must then apply for approval to DHET
The ECP Unit at Fundani should oversee and quality assure all the application processes and will formally, through the DVC: Academic, request the final approval from the DHET
